Analysis on what the games in Sochi 2014 mean for Russia and the world.

The XXII Winter Olympics games in Sochi are over. By far these Olympics are the best ever and for the first time we can compare winter Olympics significance to summer Olympics significance without overstating. This is huge and it happened in Russia.

That’s the reason why the corrupt media around the world tried to ridicule the games and by all ways possible give a bad look to the city of Sochi and the organizers of the event.

There are many people around the world who bought in that crap, making the hashtag #SochiFail one of the most popular in twitter during the whole month, but as we know there are fools all over the world, so yes the cheap shots kind of worked on them. What the mass media morons forgot was the evergreen rule of popularity that too often any media attention (even negative) is good and welcome. So by talking so much about how bad the Olympics were they made people actually watch and care about them.

Why so many people wanted the Olympics in Sochi to fail?

To give an answer to this question we should first ask what the Olympics meant for Russia?

Russia is getting hit from all fronts lately. President Putin and the government are demonized in the mass media for whatever step they take regards anything and it’s all portrayed as evil dictatorship. And the country is presented as a horrible and dangerous place to be which is hurting it’s reputation.

For any country hosting Olympic games is self advertising. It’s like saying “this is who we are” to the rest of the world. For Russia is very important to get more people on this planet to realize that this is a great country where great things happen and that the situation there is probably different than what they hear on the brainwashing media.

So why many people wanted them to fail? It’s an independent country that doesn’t have to obey the other world dominant forces – Russia has land, people, resources and strong military. It’s a legit competitor to the self-destructing “old democracies” not only as a global market player and political influencer but also as a cultural and development role model. The last thing they want is people in their all countries to see that it’s not just a dark side over there.

Olympics are also an economic stimulus. They generate nice revenue but more important than that they help for the development of an entire region (in this case Krasnodar and the city of Sochi).
The goal is to make Sochi a big business and tourist destination. It’s the only big sea resort that Russia has and because it’s so close to the mountains it’s great for the winter as well. Until now millions of Russians have spent their summer and winter vacations in other countries spending billions of dollars every year there. From now on Sochi will attract a lot of them providing huge benefits fro the local and national economy. Investors expect the number of Russians who visit Sochi every year to double (at minimum). And who knows, maybe now Sochi has a lot of international fans and it will become the new French Riviera.

So how did the Olympics in Sochi and the Russians do?

Despite all the critiques and media attacks, the absurd fake photos, the terrorist threats, the bombings in Volgograd in December, the tension over the escalating riots in Ukraine and the boycott of some political leaders, the Russians did a great job.

In terms of organization everything was world class. Thousands of volunteers and assistants (who btw for the 1st time in Olympics history were provided with food and shelter) have done a great job helping the guests of the game. Media members have never had more space to work. Events were scheduled well. No big problems at all.

Infrastructure. The stadiums, the Olympic village and the mountain zones are all top notch and all in one place. Not to mention the roads, the rail station, the airport. the hospitals, the hotels, the energy plants and everything else that has been built to support the city. The $51 billion in expenses are a lot and they have done a lot.

Security. There wasn’t a better secured city in world during the month of February so people do felt safe.

The opening and the closing ceremonies were magnificent (and yet some medias focused only on the issue with the 5th Olympic ring during the opening).

Most of the visitors to the Olympic (fans from all around the world) love the city, the organization and the events.

The athletes did the rest. They’ve competed and they have shown the world what they are capable of. We should admire all of them from all countries who’ve participated in the different sports events. They’ve given all the viewers positive and sometimes negative emotions (that’s sports) and maybe they’ve spread the Olympic spirit among some people. It’s about peace, unity and fair competition, without hate and dirty political games.

The big winners with the most medals were the Russians (what a surprise). They’ve won 13 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze medals (total of 33) leaving Norway and Canada behind. A huge leap for them compared to previous Olympics. They are now the number 1 winter sports nation at least until the end of the Olympics in 2018.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) also did a very good job and we should not take away credit from them. They supported the host nation and made sure everything is OK. Thomas Bach so far is representing this organization in a very good manner.

So all of you out there who have tweeted with #SochiFail, now it’s time to tweet #SochiSuccess or not tweet at all.

P.S. If you tweet at us (@bitterbananas) you might get a reply so go and try.